Traditional, nutrient-dense food.

Tag Archives: Gut Matters

Well, I may not have posted as often as I’d hoped, but I’ve been squirreling away, working on my ebook! This is a concise guide to soaking grains and pulses so that you get the most from them. It’s called “Gut Matters: Soaking Grains for Improved Digestion and Enhanced Nutrition” and it’ll be launched towards the end of this month.

It explains why we should be soaking our grains and the benefits of doing so, and has some handy tables and recipes so you know exactly what to do.

All seeds contain phytic acid that protects them whilst they wait for the optimum time for germination – the seed contains alot of nutrition to nourish the seedling as it grows, and this is the nutrition we want to access too. But it remains locked in if we don’t pre-treat the seed before cooking and eating. Of course this doesn’t just apply to grains – pulses, nuts and seeds like pumpkin and sunflower seeds also need to be soaked.

So how do we know all this? Well, there isn’t a host of scientific evidence, although there is a little, but for the most part, the evidence is in the health of the traditional groups from around the world who have practised soaking and fermenting grains and other seeds for millenia. And for me, there is the story of improved digestion for me and my family, literally, overnight.

My family and I now really enjoy fermented grains more than soaked grains, and much more than those that haven’t been soaked at all. Fermented grains are much easier to digest, and presumably that also means more of their nutrients are bioavailable. With baking, the results, in my opinion, are superior to baking with unsoaked flour, as the end product is deliciously moist! In “Gut Matters” as well as some sweet treat recipes, there are instructions for adapting recipes, so you don’t have to give up old favourites.

Remembering to soak your grains requires a bit of a mindshift, and for that reason I offer support in the form of coaching calls just to get you started. But either way, it just requires a bit more planning than you might be accustomed to. And although it takes hours or even days to soak or ferment grains, these are not labour-intensive! It takes just a minute or so to prepare the grains and leave them aside to soak, then once the required time has passed, cooking or baking takes no longer than usual.